A friend of mine pointed me to Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. The site answers questions that readers submit. The site is peppered with a good deal of humor, making it an enjoyable read. She does a parody entitled “Grammar Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Her knowledge of English far surpasses her singing ability, so I recommend reading the transcript instead of listening to the mp3.

One of the most enjoyable sections of the site is her photos at Flikr, where she collects examples of poorly worded and/or punctuated signs. Having been working in retail for the past few months, I am amazed at how many people make mistakes when writing signs to be hung in public places. Presumably most of the errors come about through ignorance of grammer and punctuation or through carelessness. But if you are making signage that will be seen by everyone, take the time to do it right. The signs hung in a store are intended to give customers information. You don’t want part of that information to be “Employees can’t spell.”

While we are on the topic of punctuation, I wanted to share a product our store is selling that is driving me nuts. It is a wooden cutout of a snowman holding a sign that says “6 Days T’il [sic] Christmas.” Our sign up front that says “No ice melt till [sic] Friday” is bad enough, but this is a product that presumably had to go through Q.C. at some point. We have about fifteen of these in stock, so they stare me in the face as I walk to and from the break room.

And please, people, for the love of God, stop putting quotation marks around everything in sight!

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